How Two Fashion Industry Sisters Throw the Perfect Weekend Brunch

Lizzie and Kathryn Fortunato, the 30-year-old twin sisters behind the jewelry line Lizzie Fortunato, have their own ideas about how to run a small business, and one involves a big dinner table. "For so long we wanted to connect all these different women who seemed like they were five degrees separated anyway," explains Kathryn from the kitchen of their shared apartment in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill, "but it wasn't until we had the physical space to do it that it was just so easy, and from there it became a tradition." The twins, who founded their label of statement-making costume jewels (necklaces start at $200) in 2008, are outgoing and friendly, both petite, with Audrey Hepburn–esque appeal (Lizzie's crop is distinctly Roman Holiday era) and a habit of laughing while they talk. They currently occupy the top two light- soaked floors of a brownstone, shared by Lizzie, her boyfriend, Peter Asbill (co-founder of the music app Songza), and Kathryn after the girls moved from a small, disaster-prone SoHo apartment in July. Kathryn says, "It was a huge priority to finally have a dinner table to put everybody around."

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On a frozen Sunday afternoon in February, the Fortunatos' apartment is filled with guests ranging from women the twins knew growing up in Wilmington, Delaware, such as florist Taylor Patterson of Fox Fodder Farm (who lent a hand with arrangements) and Jenny Capano of pop-up restaurant production company The Sporting Project, to professional contacts turned friends: Erica Cerulo of the e-commerce site Of a Kind and Stacy Smallwood, a client who owns Hampden Clothing in Charleston, South Carolina. Textiles from Fortune Finds, Lizzie Fortunato's recently launched home-goods arm, and Plexiglas cuffs and gold and bone collar necklaces from their forthcoming Moroccan-inspired fall '15 line adorn the walls and the women. Savory plates of roasted-carrot-and-radish salad and a tomato-and-basil frittata catered by Simone Nemirovsky of Table BK are served over a tabletop of treasures available from Fortune Finds—delicate bud vases and patterned ceramic serving bowls. As Kathryn puts it, "We all know that running small businesses can be a huge challenge, and a lot of times it feels like there are more trials than triumphs, so the fact that we can surround ourselves with people who are friends but also people who provide insight, contacts, and resources for us is just doubly beneficial. And it's fun."

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There is a Jane Austen–worthy balance of sense and sensibility to the sisters. Lizzie is the designer who would create jewelry from vintage chains and leather scraps, giving it away at college parties to girls who asked, whereas Kathryn always saw it as a business, one whose wares are now carried at mega-retailers Neiman Marcus, Shopbop.com, and Intermix. Except for a 2004 study-abroad stint while they both were at Duke University, the pair have not lived apart. That's about to change, though: Kathryn's boyfriend is moving from DC to New York to join the NYPD Intelligence Division, and they are renting a new apartment down the street. "We want to continue to entertain a lot," Lizzie says. "It's funny because Peter's asked, 'Do I still have to be kicked out?' And I'm like, 'Yes, we are still doing girl dinners, and you have to be kicked out.'"